Joanna Wietrzyk is ready to put her messy affairs behind her and get back on the race floor.
The 24-year-old Hyrox competitor from Australia made headlines for having explosive diarrhea in the middle of a fitness competition in Beijing.
She chose to continue the race and finished first, while the people trailing behind her were left dealing with the rather unpleasant aftermath of her public bathroom mishap.
Highlights
- Joanna Wietrzyk is returning to HYROX after her infamous diarrhea incident in Beijing.
- The 24-year-old apologized to spectators and competitors affected by her decision to continue racing.
- Wietrzyk said she had spent the past two months reflecting on the incident.
- HYROX updated its rulebook and procedures following the incident.
Joanna Wietrzyk is ready to put her messy affairs behind her and get back on the race floor
Joanna Wietrzyk has had two months to digest the events that unfolded during a Hyrox Beijing fitness race on September 12.
This week, she shared a video message, announcing her return to Hamburg, Germany, for the race on Friday, October 30.
“An update from Hamburg x,” she wrote in her caption.
“So I’ve had some time to reflect over the past 6-8 weeks of everything that happened in Beijing,” she began.
“Firstly, I want to say I’m truly, truly so sorry to everyone I’ve affected, whether they were spectators or participants out on that race for my decision to continue to race,” she continued.
The 24-year-old athlete said she had time to reflect and apologized for what happened
The young athlete said she has had a lot of time to “reflect” and has learned a lot from what happened.
“I am very, very sorry for it all,” she added.
Wietrzyk also thanked all the people who reached out to her and sent messages through her team to show their support, as it was a “very hard situation to navigate” for her.
The support “goes a lot longer and a far longer way than I can express right now,” she added.
Wietrzyk concluded by saying she was “super excited” to be in Hamburg to compete in the Elite 15, a closed, invitation-only series of competitions to qualify for the Hyrox World Championships.
Hyrox is a global fitness race that combines running with functional fitness exercises.
Athletes run for nearly 5 miles (8 km) in total and stop at different workout stations at different points in the race. They perform different exercises at the workout stations, like burpees, lunges, and wall balls.
Hyrox races are held at multiple locations throughout a calendar year.
Many criticized Wietrzyk for jeopardizing the competition for her fellow competitors
Back in September, Wietrzyk was put at the center of a heated online debate, with some praising her for her determination and for pushing on, while others said she jeopardized the competition for fellow competitors.
Wietrzyk was suffering from food poisoning at the time, and was right in the middle of the grueling race when she suddenly suffered explosive diarrhea.
She had smoothly completed two runs and the SkiErg (a machine that simulates cross-country skiing) before the episode.
The Australian athlete was at the fourth exercise station, which was burpee broad jumps, when the bathroom mishap took place.
But she continued with another run, a seated row, a farmer’s carry, a sandbag lunge, and wall ball exercises, while the competitors behind her navigated through the poop-strewn track.
Netizens slammed Beijing’s organizers for not stopping the athlete from competing
The Chinese organizers faced backlash for allowing Wietrzyk to continue racing.
In their statement, they said the affected areas were swiftly cordoned off and disinfected.
They also said the contaminated equipment was removed, and the carpet was replaced following the event.
Hyrox founder Moritz Fürste admitted that they made a mistake by not immediately reacting to the situation.
“In the end, it is my job to foresee these potential incidents, and I did not,” he said in a statement following the incident.
He also said Hyrox was making changes to their rulebook to prevent similar incidents from happening.
Hyrox founder Moritz Fürste said they updated the rulebook after the messy affair
Earlier, as per the rulebook, competitors were penalized for spitting, littering, clearing their nostrils onto the floor, and creating “slip hazards” with water at aid stations.
The rulebook has now been updated following the incident involving Wietrzyk’s messy episode.
“As of this moment, there are new rules and procedures in place to prevent situations like this from happening again,” Fürste said. “We learn and try to get better every day.”
“Imagine the smell of the place and those poor workers of the event that had to clean it up. Disgusting,” one commented online
